Voters wait at a polling place in a shopping mall on Election Day in Austin, Texas. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has Texas targeted for protections of the voting rights of minorities.

Written by

Paul J. Weber
and Michael Biesecker

Stricter voter identification laws, redrawn political maps fortifying Republican majorities, reducing early voting: States with GOP strongholds intensified these efforts under President Barack Obama and proclaimed victory at the Supreme Court.

Now the Obama administration is signaling plans to drag some of these mostly southern states with histories of minority discrimination into rematches after the high court knocked down a major piece of the Voting Rights Act.

First up is Texas, which rushed to enact a tough voter ID law and new redistricting maps after the justices' 5-4 ruling ...